Writing instructional goals and objectives
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The document discusses writing instructional goals and objectives for courses. It defines goals as broad statements about what students will learn, while objectives are more specific and measurable behaviors that will help students reach the goals. Objectives should specify the audience, behavior, conditions, and degree or level of mastery. Examples are provided for writing objectives that are cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. The document also discusses how objectives can be used to design assessments that directly measure whether students have achieved the objectives and goals.
Writing instructional goals and objectives
- 1. Writing Instructional Goals and Objectives
- 2. Goals and Objectives Listing your course goals and objectives is the clearest way to communicate expectations to students. The syllabus is a good place for them! Well-written goals and objectives inform all on what is to be learned, and how assessment will occur.
- 3. What is a Goal? Goals are broad, generalized statements about what is to be learned. Think of them as a target to be reached, or “hit.” – Example: Students will be able to apply proper grammar to composition papers.
- 4. More on Goals Goals loosely define what is to be learned, but are too broad and “fuzzy” for designing instruction. More specific statements of what the learner must “do” are needed. That’s where objectives come in.
- 5. Objectives Instructional objectives are specific, measurable, short-term, observable student behaviors. Objectives lead to related activities and good assessment. Objectives are tools to ensure your students reach your goals.
- 6. More on Objectives Different archers have different styles; so do different teachers. You can shoot your arrows (objectives) many ways. The important thing is that they reach your target (goals) and score that bulls-
- 7. Types of Objectives Cognitive – Mental skills Affective – Beliefs and attitudes Psychomotor – Physical skills
- 8. Tips for Writing Objectives Objectives should specify four main things: – Audience - Who? Who is this aimed at? – Behavior - What? What do you expect them to be able to do? Use action verbs to describe an overt, observable behavior. – Condition - How? Under what circumstances will the learning occur? – Degree - How much? Thisis often called the ABCD's of objectives, a nice mnemonic aid!
- 9. Examples of Well-written Objectives Psychomotor - “Given a standard balance beam raised to a standard height, the student (attired in standard balance beam usage attire) will be able to walk the entire length of the balance beam (from one end to the other) steadily, without falling off, and within a six second time span.” – Audience - Green – Behavior - Red – Condition - Yellow – Degree - Blue
- 10. Examples of Well-written Objectives Cognitive (comprehension) - “Given examples and non-examples of constructivist activities in a college classroom, the student will be able to accurately identify the constructivist examples and explain why each example is or isn't a constructivist activity in 20 words or less.” – Audience - Green – Behavior - Red – Condition - Yellow – Degree - Blue
- 11. Examples of Well-written Objectives Cognitive (application) - “Given a sentence written in the past or present tense, the student will be able to re-write the sentence in future tense with no errors in tense or tense contradiction (i.e., I will see her yesterday.).” – Audience - Green – Behavior - Red – Condition - Yellow – Degree - Blue
- 12. Examples of Well-written Objectives Affective - “Given the opportunity to work in a team with several people of different races, the student will demonstrate an positive increase in attitude towards non-discrimination of race, as measured by a checklist utilized/completed by non-team members.” – Audience - Green – Behavior - Red – Condition - Yellow – Degree - Blue
- 13. Examples of Well-written Objectives Notice: – Higher cognitive skills = fuzzier objectives – Affective objectives are the hardest objectives to write and assess. – The verbs you use to describe the overt, measurable activity can be tricky to write. Use action verbs that can be observed and measured.
- 14. Objectives & Assessment: A Psychomotor Example Goal - Walk the length of a balance beam. Objective Derived From Goal – Given a standard balance beam raised to a standard height, the student (attired in standard balance beam usage attire) will be able to walk the entire length of the GIMNASIA MADRE_MATILDE balance beam (from one end to the other) steadily, without falling off, and within a six second time span.
- 15. Objectives & Assessment: A Psychomotor Example Goal - Walk the length of a balance beam. Test – The student must walk the entire length of a standard balance beam raised to a standard height steadily, without falling off, and within a six second time span. (Note how this part reflects the objective.) – Three judges will observe a given individual perform this task three times, using a given scoring rubric to assign a score for each trial. – The trial score for each trial is the average of all the judge's scores. GIMNASIA MADRE_MATILDE – The overall score for the individual is the average of the three trial scores.
- 16. Objectives & Assessment: A Psychomotor Example Goal - Walk the length of a balance beam. Assessment Rubric 5 - Walks the balance beam flawlessly. Does not need to check balance, does not pause. Completes the walk within six seconds. 4 - Walks the beam, but is somewhat unsteady. Completes the walk within six seconds. 3 - Walks the beam, but is somewhat unsteady. May pause one or more times. Takes more than six seconds to complete the walk. 2 - Walks the beam, but is very unsteady, almost falling off, may pause one or more times, and/or takes more than six seconds. 1 - Falls off the beam before completing the walk. 0 - Falls off the beam immediately.
- 17. Test Yourself! What is this objective missing? “The student will be able to run 100 yards in less than 50 seconds.” The condition is missing. Under what conditions? On a track? Up a hill with a 45 degree slope? See how leaving this part out can drastically affect what and how you teach?
- 18. Test Yourself! What is this objective missing? “Given the appropriate text, the student will recite a famous Haiku poem from that text.” The degree is missing. How must the student recite it? Flawlessly? With expression? Leaving this component out makes it very difficult to assess student performance.
- 19. Choose a Partner… Choose a partner and write an objective. When you’re finished, read it to the rest of the group. The group then will evaluate your efforts!
- 20. The End